Houses
by MeloCardio
Summary: Camalot Barlow tried to leave her family behind but when she is sent to Camp Greenlake, she can't get away from her heritage...M for language, love, and violence
1. Welcome to Camp Greenlake

Camp Greenlake did eventually open back up, but not just as a girls' camp as intended. Both boys and girls were sent there, if they had a run in with the law. Of course, as with all prison camps, it had its regulars. Zig-zag never really left, it seemed, and Twitch was there every few months. As for X-ray, he still reigned supreme, and Armpit got sent back once every now and then. Magnet was always welcome and always there, as was Squid. But Stanley and Zero only visited. There were others of course, but they aren't that important to this story.

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Camelot Barlow sat in an uncomfortable bus seat beside another girl as they journeyed to Camp Greenlake. The other girl, Madison Grinch, didn't talk much and seemed all too innocent for Cam. Cam raised her handcuffed wrists over her head and stretched back. The guard watched her with eyes that were too keen. Cam felt a jolt and sat straight up. Looking out the dust-caked window, she saw that they were there. The guard stalked over to the two girls and grabbed Cam's shoulder. "Come on Trouble," he said in a tone Cam didn't like in the least. She would have punched him, if she weren't at a prison camp. Rising, she led the way off the bus. _Welcome to_ _Camp Greenlake…_ she thought to herself. The guard led her into the 'office' where an old lady in baggy clothes was bent over a TV screen. When they entered, the old hag looked up and said, "File." The guard dropped two large stacks of papers on the woman's desk. The lady looked quickly over the files and said, "Which of you criminals is Camelot Barlow and which is Madison Grinch?" Cam raised her handcuffed hands and said, "Names Cam." The witch growled and shook her head. "You will call me Ms. Herton, not Hurtin, not Her-tone, not anything but Ms. Herton. Got that?" Cam nodded and didn't say a thing. Madison Grinch, who had been silent throughout all of this, said, "Yes, Ms. Herton," in a horribly sweet southern-belle accent.

"Well, what a sweet little con. Now, warden, quit dawdling and unhandcuff these horrid monsters!" the hag growled. The guard did as he was told. As soon as Madison's handcuffs were off, she grabbed them and hit the guard hard on the head with them using some strange martial arts move, as if the handcuffs were num-chucks. Cam was stunned by this outburst, but not enough not to run after Madison in a feeble escape attempt. It didn't take long before they were both caught.

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Cam marched toward the tents with Madison, both were being watched by the old lady, Ms. Herton, the hawk. Cam spoke under her breath to Madison. "Nice job back there… I didn't think you were much of a fighter… sure showed me… hows 'bout we start over… names Cam, friends and enemies call me the Chameleon. You?" Madison smiled an evil smile to herself. "People call me a few things, Mad-Madi, the Grinch, MG, Fu-Dog, Belle-from-hell… you name it, I'm called it… and you can sure run." Cam laughed at the last part. Yeah, she could run, but in the end, she had been caught.

Ms. Herton had assigned them to D-Tent-2 saying that they would be the only inhabitants, but that D-Tent-1, their neighbor tent, was almost completely full, and they would have the same counselor as D-Tent-1. And, right now, they were on their way to their first meeting.

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Their counselor was a tall, thin man who was old and balding. The boys in D-tent-1 were nice enough, but kept staring at Cam and then looking away when they noticed that she noticed. Everyone sat lazily around in a circle and listened to Mr. Friendly's explanation of how they were all 'good kids.' _Yeah, right…_ thought Cam. When Mr. Friendly left them he said, "Everyone, do the right thing and girls, out by 7." Cam got up to leave, but Madi held her back with a "Don't be a bummer, girl."

One of the guys smiled and said, "So, you know our 'names' as Mr. Friendly tells them, but you don't know what we're called and call ourselves. I'm X-ray. That's Magnet and that stinky guy over there is Armpit. The twitchy kid is Twitch and that's Zig-zag." Madison smiled her 'sweet-southern-belle' smile and said, "Names Madison Grinch, folks call me whatever they want… Mad-Madi, the Belle-from-hell, the Grinch, Fu-Dog… whatever floats their boat…" Cam shrugged when everyone looked her way, "I'm called the Chameleon, for obvious reasons…" Cam twirled her rainbow colored, waist length hair between her fingers coolly. "Now, if you don't mind, it's hot and this shirt is sticking to me…" Cam grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it gracefully off, exposing her tank top and bare-arms. The boys stared at her muscular arms and Cam remembered that her shirt had been hiding the tattoos on her arms. One tat was a chameleon in mid-change while the other arm bore a giant snake about to strike a little girl, one third it's size, who was holding a stuffed animal.

Cam flexed her arms and smiled saying, "Impressed, boys? I think they go well with my rainbow dyed hair, don't you?" Magnet whistled and said, "Yeah, Tats, their great." Cam laughed, "So, is my new name Tats?" X-ray shrugged and said, "Good 'nough name as any… so, we have Tats slash Chameleon, and… Madi, you got no nickname from us yet…" Madi didn't seem to care, she was heavily flirting with Zig-zag, and he was liking it.

"Zig-zag is such a… fine name… fit for a guy such as yourself… tall, dark, handsome, strong… you know, a girl could go crazy with desire for you…" Madi wasn't wasting any time. X-ray hit Zig-zag playfully on the head saying, "Man, Ziggy, looks like there's more to you than we thought…" Twitch looked at Tats and asked, "S-so, what's your st-story? Wh-why ya here?" Tats sighed and leaned forward toward his ear. She half-whispered, "More than I can say in a sentence." Twitch gave her a look that said 'try.' Tats laughed and said, "I beat up a middle-aged man, punched my lawyer, keyed the judge's car, tagged the court house, my high school, the clinic, and a park, egged a house, and stole a car… no biggie…" Twitch shrugged and said, "Naw, you're among other criminals now. I just stole a car, or seven… this ain't my first time at Camp Greenlake… ain't none of their's either…"

"So, what's with building houses?" Cam asked, almost discussed. After Madi and Cam had been caught in mid-flight, the hag had told them that they would build houses on the lakeside. X-ray leaned over and laughed. "When the lake was still dried up, we used to dig holes… the warden made us dig for buried treasure, without us even knowing it… now, we build houses for rich folk who don't want to pay anyone to." X-ray spoke the word 'rich' as if it was the foulest thing in the world. Cam rolled her eyes and gave Madi a look. Madi was already flirting with another boy, Magnet, having quickly lost interest in Zig-zag. Cam stood up and looked at her watch, quarter till 7. "Better be off," she said with an undertone of malice, "if I'm to tag the mess hall and be in my tent by 7." Cam smiled as everyone looked at her with surprise. "Anyone care to help?"

Twitch was the first to volunteer, followed by X-ray and Magnet. Madi also said that she was up was up for mischief, and Zig-zag was quick to follow her lead. Armpit finally agreed to be the look out, if nothing more.

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Cam stood on the counselors' table in the mess hall. She was holding a spray can, her pointer finger on the nozzle. She was almost done out-lining the black lettering. After one last spray she got off of the table and stepped back to admire her work. _"Welcome to Camp Greenlake, where the lake is turd-brown."_ It wasn't that creative, but it didn't have to be as long as it was graffiti. Cam did a 180 to see the others' masterpieces. She especially loved Twitch's. It had a skull-and-cross-bones and read, _"Warning: food may cause death."_ She noted that everyone was finished and she looked at her watch to see how long it had taken them. _Oh no! 9:57! We are so late!_ she thought to herself.

"Guys, lateness! Come on- hurry! But be dead quite or be dead…" she said in a whispered voice. They snuck out of the building and ducked behind a tent as they saw a flashlight approaching. _We won't get caught, we won't get caught, we won't get caught, we won't ge…_ just then the light roamed two feet near them. _ Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is it, we're dead, so dead, and on my first night, at least I won't have to build a house, but Twitch, poor Twitch… why am I thinking of Twitch at a time like this? I'm about to get sent to jail and I'm thinking of Twitch? I just met the guy and…_Cam's brain stopped thinking when the light wandered away from them. She almost let out a sigh, but caught herself. The group watched silently as the flashlight barer disappeared into the counselors' tent.

Cam found herself stepping forward slowly. Then, she began to run. She didn't notice that the others had followed her; she just wanted to get to the tent. And she did, D-tent-2. The others followed her inside, even the boys. Cam collapsed on her cot and then found that she could breathe again. Sitting up, she looked around at everyone and said, "What a rush!" That made everyone laugh and the whole atmosphere eased. Armpit patted her back and said, "Yup, you're one of us!" Twitch laughed, "I-I thought w-we were de-dead…" "Yeah, we was almost caught," said Magnet and Madi said, "I was wishing we were gonna be." Zig-Zag gave Madi a look and whispered, "She's crazier than me!" X-ray raised his hands and said, "That was fun and all, but we best get to our tent, boys. Night, girls."


	2. What the guys don't know

"Wait! Which tent do y'all want to frame?" Cam looked exspectantly at X-ray. He smiled a malicious smile and said, "C-tent, all of C-tent…" Cam nodded and said, "You all go to bed, I'll stash the stuff in C-tent." With that the boys left and Madi got in bed. Cam grabbed her bag and stepped outside of the tent, bumping into Twitch.

"Oh!- Sorry! I thought you'd gone to your tent with the others…" she spoke in harsh wispers. Twitch shook his head and mumbled, "Th-thought you c-could use some he-hel-help…" Cam smiled and said, "Alright, lets beat it to C-tent, then." They walked on tip-toe to C-tent and Cam handed Twitch half of the spray cans. Twitch snuck into the boys' tent and Cam went into the girls' tent. Listening closely to the snores, she took the rest of the spray cans out of her bag and placed them on the floor in the corner of the tent. She placed them so that they looked like they had just been carelessly put there. The she walked out of the tent. Twitch was waiting on her and she went to join him. Waling back to their tents, Cam thought, _Lord, he's hot… why did he want to help?… Maybe he was just being nice… or maybe… no, no… he couldn't… but if he did… Oh!- I need to know!… one way to find out…_

They were at the tents now and had stopped. Cam took a deep breathe and grabbed Twitch around his back. She felt him tense up and wondered if she shouldn't go on. She blocked out her thoughts and pressed her mouth to his. Nothing happened, he didn't do anything, and Cam made to pull away. Only then did Twitch grab her shoulders, although rather oddly. Cam sighed as she felt Twitch deepen the kiss. Then, suddenly, it was over and Cam was sitting on the ground. Twitch had pushed her away. Shaking his head Twitch muttered, "We can't… I can't… I just can't… I want to… but… I can't… and I don't know why I won't to… I just do… but we can't…"

Cam was standing in a flash. "What do you mean, you don't know why? Never, never has anyone said they didn't know why they wanted to kiss me, NEVER!" Then, Cam's hand struck Twitch in the face. The slap left a mean red mark and Twitch drew in a sharp breath.

"No, you don't understand… I have a partner…"

"You got a girl friend!"

"No… I'm… uh… I… don't swing that way…"

"You're GAY!"

"Yeah… I… am… and… well… it shouldn't bother you!"

"It doesn't… I have many gay friends." Cam sighed, "And I support them. I just wish I'd have known, you know, before I… kissed you…" Twitch nodded and said, "Friends?" Cam smiled, saying, "Of course… and I'm sorry for… well… you know…"

"Yeah, it's no big…" Cam laughed and said, "Hey, we need to get to bed." With that Cam pulled back the tent flap.

"Wait, uh… listen… umm… nobody else knows… I mean, the guys don't know… and I don't really want them to…"

"I won't tell, I swear!" Cam stepped inside her tent and heard Twitch's voice softly say "Good night."


	3. Good Morning Scavenger

Cam slept rather unpeacfully that night. Her dreams were haunted with visions of her brother as he called out to her to take him away with her to Camp Greenlake and a sharp image of Twitch as she slapped him. Both boys looked so helpless, so needy. She heard her own voice call out in the night for her mother, but her mother didn't come, hadn't come in so long, to her bedside. Then Cam was being shaken awake.

"Tats, come on girl… Cam!… Chameleon!… Wake up!"

Cam turned on her side and mubbled something about getting the fuck away before she unleashed some major whoop-ass. But whoever it was didn't stop and Cam kicked out at them in her half-sleep. Her foot connected and a yelp was heard. But Cam still didn't wake fully up. The person recovered quickly and grabbed Cam's feet and dragged her off of the bed. Cam landed with a bang on the floor and was awake in a flash. She jumped up, spun around, and knocked the person to the ground.

Cam found that her fist were crushing into Madi's face at a rapid pace.

"Don't EVER do that again! I ought to knock some sense into you, you blast-bottom-bird-brained-french-fried-bastarded--noddle! Now, have you learned a leason from this or do Mr. Pain and Ms. Punishment, my two fist, need to make things clearer?"

Cam didn't wait for an answer. She gave Madi one last punch in the face and jumped off of her. Madi stood up slowly and touched her nose gingerly.

"It'll be fine. It ain't bleeding and don't look broken. Some ice'll make it better in a flash. You alright? I… didn't mean to hurt you none… I'm just… not a mourning person… I… uh… should get some ice…" Cam turned on her heal and stepped toward the tent flap when Madi grabbed her hand.

"I'll be fine… no biggie… really… its okay… you didn't mean anything by it, I know… just you let me worry about it, you go on and get ready for working…"

Cam nodded her head and smiled. She unbuttoned her night gown and grabbed her blouse and pants. She got dressed quickly but found that her shirt had a tie in the back that she couldn't reach. She looked over at Madi, who had been sitting on her cot as Cam got dressed, and asked, "Could you tie this for me?" Madi stood up, walked over, and grabbed the ribbons.

"How tight?"

"As tight as you can pull." Madi pulled hard on the ribbons and gently tied them in a bow.

"All done." Cam turned around to face the other girl.

"How's it look?"

"Lovely…"

"Too bad the orange jump-suit will hide the effect… huh?"

"Yeah… at least I got to see the beautiful effect…"

"But the boys didn't."

"…true…"

Cam put on the jump-suit and stepped out side of the tent with Madi closely following. They noticed that the boys were waiting on them at the libray, so they walked over.

"Hey, its Tats and Flash!" Armpit called. Madi looked around and then asked, "Am I Flash?" X-ray nodded, shrugged, and said, "Yup… cause you move real fast…" Madi laughed and said, "Why waste time? Life is too short not to have fun…" Cam looked down at her feet, then over at Twitch, who hadn't said a word. Twitch gave her a large smile and stepped up to her.

"Y-you and I g-gonna w-work t-together t-today…"

Cam gave him a questioning look and asked, "Won't we work together everday?" Twitch nodded slowly and answered, "Y-yeah… b-but t-today w-we get to sc-scavenge… a-ask X-ray bout it, I c-can't ex-explain c-cause I st-stutter too m-much…" Cam sighed and turned to X-ray.

"What does Twitch mean 'we scavenge'?"

"You two go out into the surrounding land and look for odd things to furnish the house with, while we build."

"Why?"

"Cause we are made to put 'neat' junk from around the lake in each house we complete. Today should be our last day of building this house, so you and Twitch get the scavenge cause its his turn and you will always scavenge with him. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure… what ever…"


	4. Of Silence and SSecrets

Cam followed Twitch to the supply shed. As Twitch opened the shed door, Cam stared at the labyrinth of junk. Inside were a two-passenger rowboat, three oars, two ratty life-jackets, two metal detectors, a crabbing net, a skimmer net for a pool, and a torn canvas sack. These item alone weren't as eye-catching as the entanglement of ropes that stretched from floor to ceiling. Hanging precariously on the ropes were dozens of rusted metal buckets filled with nails, screws, hammers, screwdrivers, wires, and things Cam had never seen before. Twitch crawled and twisted his way past the maze of ropes and pails to the boat, where he began to place the needed supplies; in went the all three oars, both life-jackets, the two metal detectors, both the crabbing net and the skimmer net, and the sack.

"H-help me g-get th-the boat o-out."

"How in fucking hell do you expect me to do that?"

"I'll p-push the boat, y-you just push the r-ropes outta the w-way." Cam sighed but did as she was instructed. After much ado, the little boat was outside.

"N-now we go t-to th-the l-lake." Cam nodded and lifted the front of the boat. Twitch lifted his end and the two walked toward the muddy water.

_Why did I have to kiss him?... now things are gonna be weird... he was so nice... and he's strong... his end of the boat isn't even wobbling... he was such a good kisser... but he's gay... it would never work out between us... but he kissed me too... but he pulled away... he's gay... he's in a relationship... with another guy... but none of the guys here know... he wanted to kiss me... and his boyfriend isn't here... and he didn't stutter last night after... I kissed him and ruined everything... but I'm the only one here that he has told... just friends sucks... screw this... _Cam's mind was a hurricane of thought as the pending silence fell between Twitch and herself.

Together they lowered the boat into the water and settled themselves inside. Twitch had rowed out to the middle of the lake before the silence was lifted.

"Ta-Tats... I don't want th-things to be... odd... other than my b-boyfriend, you're the first per-person I've told... my fa-family doesn't even kn-know."

"Your secret is safe with me and your wish is my command; I don't want things to be odd either... you're my only real friend here."

"That's not true! Everyone likes you and you fit in here. Not like me, with my stutter. You're possibly even popular here; everyone else needed to prove themselves... I had to steal the water truck before I was excepted, you just had to show of your tattoos to be one of us. No offense, ofcourse, cuz I like you and all..."

"Twitch."

"... I mean you're pretty cool... but what I mean..."

"Twitch."

"... to say is that you have alot of friends here and..."

"Twitch!"

"What?"

"You're not stuttering."

"Huh?"

"Everything you just said, not one stutter."

Twitch cleared his throat nervously, "R-really?"

"Yeah... maybe it's because you're comfortable around me... you know, because I know and I'm not judging you..."

"Probably..."

"Listen, I was thinking... its only fair that I tell you my secret... kind of a collateral exchange..."

"Okay..."

"I'm white-collar trash... I was the daughter of a wealthy lawyer and his wife. After my dad died, my mother stopped being a good mom... she beat me and my brother... until I ran away and took my brother with me... we hopped a bus from Maryland to New York and joined a gang... we lived for two years with our blood-brothers and sisters in a rickety warehouse... I don't know how many crimes I've committed or how many times I've change my appearance... all I know is that I was caught and sent here... and that my brother is being punished far worse than I am... he was sent back to Mother."

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	5. Waterlogged and Wanting

Twitch stared at Cam as if she had just announced that she was dying. _I'll bet he feels sorry for me... but his face is soft with worry...God...don't pity me..._ Cam hated feeling pitied, after all, she was the lucky one, she'd escaped to prison camp.

"Tats... I'm glad you're here... and I'm sure your brother will get out..."

"He's so young and I'm not there to protect him... he'll die... and... and it'll be my fault... I could have kept us safe... hidden... or just stayed with Her..." Cam was weeping softly, so Twitch pulled her into his arms.

"NO! You couldn't! If you had, you'd both probably already be dead... and it wouldn't be your fault, it be your mother's. I'm sure you taught him to protect himself any way possible. He'll be fine, you'll see." Cam quickly drew back from Twitch's arms, embaressed by her outbreak, and the jerky movement made the little boat woble violently. Twitch gripped it's side to steady it, but Cam, who was not use to boats, flailed her arms wildly and fell overboard.

The orange jumpsuit rapidly became heavy with water and try as she might, Cam couldn't keep her head above the glassy surface. As she sank down, Twitch jumped up, pulled off his own jumpsuit and dived in.

Cam opened her eyes as she felt her foot hit something hard. Blurily she could see the lake bottom and just under her left foot was a small metal box. Just then she saw Twitch swiming toward her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her arm over his neck. She pulled back and tried to grab the box, but she was weak from not breathing and he wouldn't let her.

Their heads broke the surface in unison, a glorious moment of returned life. Then, Twitch pulled the two of them onto the boat, barely managing not to capsize it. Cam had fallen unconscience during the swim upward and Twitch was exausted but knew he needed to wake her up. He unzipped her jumpsuit so as to lessen the weight on her chest. Seeing that her shirt was tied tightly, he undid the bow at the back. Then, thanking whatever god existed that he knew CPR, he put his mouth to hers.

Cam awoke with Twitch's hands on her breast, his lips against hers. For a moment she thought she had passed out at a party and some guy was mauling her, then it all flooded back to her and she push him gently away.

"CPR..." Twitch explained, blushing furiously.

"Thanks... were's the box?"

"What box?"

"In the lake... it was there... I need that box... I'm going back for it..." Cam didn't know why, but she wanted it as if it held her heart.

"No! If it's that important to you, I'll get it." Before Cam could argue or tell him where it was, Twitch was out of the boat. He dived down to where he had found Cam and scanned the lake floor. He saw a metalic shimmer like the corner of a tin and swam to it. He dug at the mud and revealed the whole of a small box with engravings on it. As his lungs began to ache, he lifted it up and swam to the surface.

Cam was sitting at the edge of the boat studying the water for any sign of him when Twitch's head bobbed up like a booie. He swam tiredly to the boat shoved the tin into it then pulled himself in with Cam's help. He sat on the bench elbows on knees, head bowed and in hands, breathing shakily. _Please be okay... stupid Cam... selfish, selfish idiot... how could I... God, let him be okay... all my fault..._Cam's head was still fuzy but these thoughts exploded against her mind clearly and rapidly.

"You okay?" She didn't know how else to word her worry.

"Fine... just tired... thats all; let's take a look at that box."

Cam picked up the tin and with the sleeve of her jumpsuit wiped the mud from it to read the inscription. As soon as she saw what it said she froze.

"So... what's it say?" Twitch, having somewhat recovered, was extremely interested in the mysterious box that meant so much to his friend.

"Johnathon Barlow."


End file.
